“Coaching” at work is not a four-letter word

Adapted from, Intersections: Four Deliberate Actions That Help You Create Solutions And Achieve Results. Dave Fleming. c. 2017. Coaching is Your Friend Golf swings, musical instruments, exercise regimens and hundreds of other activities. It's no big deal to get coaching for any of them. You're not a failure if you do, get coaching. You're seen [...]

“Coaching” at work is not a four-letter word2017-07-11T21:10:32-04:00

Practice Fast

I have had the privilege of coaching hundreds of people. When I consider the one’s that really upped their performance, during the coaching, there are a few qualities that are common among them. One is this: They practice fast.   When high performing people discover a principle or idea that can improve their performance, they [...]

Practice Fast2016-08-17T06:05:42-04:00

How to use under-performing data to drive results

The value of smart data is a must for all industries and sectors of our economy. Of course, we all want our data to reveal high performance, but that is not always the case. Every company, non-profit agency or volunteer organization also has data that reveals under-performance. Simply, under-performance to expectation, happens.   How organizational [...]

How to use under-performing data to drive results2016-06-17T10:16:36-04:00

Want more collective ingenuity? Start with personal ingenuity.

It's spring training season where I live (in Fort Myers, Florida). The Boston Red Sox train here in a facility lovingly known as Fenway South. Now, imagine a player strolling into the facility today and declaring that he's done with personal conditioning. "I've had it," he begins. "I'm tired of all this. So... no more running, [...]

Want more collective ingenuity? Start with personal ingenuity.2016-03-25T07:15:20-04:00

Avoiding an important but undesirable action? Try this…

A friend and I were catching up last night at a local bar. We started with some small talk, which included the topic of exercise. He knew I had been slowly adding running back into my exercise routine after an injury. "Are you running again," he asked. "I am. I'm up to 30 minutes of continuous running [...]

Avoiding an important but undesirable action? Try this…2016-01-21T05:12:32-05:00

Create Memorable Content: Get beyond the obvious

I read a lot of articles on continuous improvement. What I'm noticing is how much of the current focus on continuous improvement is just reprocessed platitudes. For example:   Idea from an article: Be innovative! (OK, thanks. I already knew that). Idea from another article: Hey, ya know, it's not just about innovation. (OK, thanks, [...]

Create Memorable Content: Get beyond the obvious2016-01-13T06:02:22-05:00

Customer Service Manipulation II

In the August 6 post, I introduced the idea of customer service manipulation. If you haven't read that post, you can read it (below) to gain context for the one. Shortcuts are a wonderful invention when you need to get to the store in a hurry, save time while word processing, or work certain math [...]

Customer Service Manipulation II2015-08-19T20:27:08-04:00

More on the platitudes of self-help and continuous improvement

A few posts ago, I wrote about the amount of self help and continuous improvement advice that, under a bit of scrutiny, seems either very obvious or very wrong. The trouble with these ideas is the subtle and not so subtle affects they produce on perspectives, behaviors and relationships. To be fair, I cringe at some of the [...]

More on the platitudes of self-help and continuous improvement2015-07-03T11:24:16-04:00